Things for Brits to do in New York

Being an Englishman in New York, every time a British friend is hitting up NYC, I get asked for recommendations. I got tired of sharing this one at a time, and I realized more people could benefit — so here it is:

Transport

If you come in to JFK, cheapest option (and fastest in rush hour) is getting the subway. Take the Airtrain to Jamaica station, then take the E.

Weekly Subway Metrocards (~$30) are great if you’ll be using it more than 10 times. Select ‘Add Time’ instead of ‘Add Value’ when buying.

Use Uber Pool or Lyft Line instead of yellow cabs. If you have access to an American phone, use this code to get $50 of credit from Lyft.

However yellow cabs are pretty cheap in manhattan (tough to get one to take you out to Brooklyn). Much cheaper than other cities.

Bring sturdy walking shoes — there’s an awesome amount of stuff to see here and by walking, you’re seeing a lot more of the city.

It takes approximately 1 minute to walk a block (north-south) and 3 minutes to walk an avenue (east-west). The avenues increase from right to left, blocks increase from south to north, so it’s relatively easy to figure out how to navigate anywhere if you know the cross st.

Tourist Attractions

9/11 memorial is incredibly tastefully done. Emotional. Check out the actual museum part if you have time.

Do the Staten Island Ferry. Sails right past the Statue of Liberty + awesome views of the skyline on the way back + it’s FREE! Don’t stop off in Staten Island though there’s really nothing to see there.

Go see Charging Bull in the financial district. Take a picture grabbing the bull by its balls (for good luck).

Near Charging Bull and Wall St you’ll see Trinity Church — used to be the tallest building in Manhattan.

Check out Wall St. The placards with historical information are usually pretty interesting to read.

Walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Just do it, it’s awesome. Take a camera + selfie stick.